Is Landscape Architecture “Activism”?

Planning, in any event or art piece, requires multidimensional thinking. Landscape architecture allows the platform for professionals to widen the lens on a location, marrying the environment to the solution of all problems, while transporting into the future of design and materials. Solving problems becomes an opportunity to make advancements in science and to create change at the same time.

Kate Orff, 2017 recipient of the MacArthur Grant, says she came to this field in part because of “activism“. Kate says that her work constitutes as activism because it “inspires people to be involved and to create a more direct connection with the immediate environment.”

Let’s consider these consequences. What happens when people are inspired to interact with nature? If we gain a relationship with nature, through sustainable and creative designs in landscapes, is it possible that we would also choose innately to protect it? Could landscape architecture be the answer?

Read the Q&A with Kate Orff by PBS News Hour HERE and tell us what you think: is landscape architecture activism?